How to sell to Founders at Energy companies
Founders in the Energy sector prioritize sustainable growth and innovation, with a focus on reducing operational costs. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the regulatory landscape and how it impacts their projects. Highlighting solutions that offer compliance and efficiency improvements can capture their attention, especially when these solutions align with their sustainability goals.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 550 energy company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- high operational costs
- regulatory compliance issues
- difficulty in securing funding
- inefficiencies in project management
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Filter for energy companies that have recently secured funding, as this indicates growth and potential openness to new partnerships. Use platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook to find relevant announcements. Focus on companies that mention plans for expanding their renewable projects.
- 02
Highlight regulatory changes
Research recent regulatory changes in the energy sector that may impact operational costs or project timelines. Tailor your outreach to address how your solution can help them navigate these changes effectively. This shows you understand their immediate challenges and can provide valuable insights.
- 03
Leverage industry events
Identify upcoming energy conferences or webinars where founders are likely to be present. Use these events as a reason to reach out, suggesting a brief call to discuss insights from the event. Mentioning shared interests or speakers can increase the likelihood of a response.
- 04
Personalize based on sustainability goals
Research each founder’s stated sustainability goals or initiatives. Craft your message to clearly link your solution with their objectives, such as improving energy efficiency or reducing carbon emissions. This shows you’ve done your homework and care about their mission.
- 05
Follow up with insights on market trends
If you don’t receive a response, send a follow-up email that includes recent market trends or insights relevant to their business. This could be about shifts in consumer preferences towards renewable energy. Position yourself as a resource rather than just a salesperson.
Can energy companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 550 energy companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 21.6% of 1–10-person companies against 85.8% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Navigating energy regulations
- Funding opportunities in renewables
- Sustainable growth strategies
Questions
- Why do founders in energy ignore outreach about compliance solutions?
- Founders often feel overwhelmed by the number of compliance solutions available and may see them as generic or irrelevant to their specific needs. They prioritize solutions that demonstrate a clear understanding of their unique challenges and regulatory environment.
- What motivates energy founders to engage with new vendors?
- Energy founders are motivated by solutions that can help them achieve their sustainability goals, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency. They are more likely to engage if they see a direct link between the vendor's offering and their business objectives.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to energy founders?
- To stand out, focus on personalized messaging that addresses the specific challenges faced by the founder's company. Use industry-specific language and showcase your understanding of current trends and regulations in the energy sector.
- What are common objections from energy founders?
- Common objections include concerns about the ROI of new solutions, skepticism about vendor claims, and the belief that existing processes are sufficient. Addressing these objections requires demonstrating clear value and providing evidence of successful implementations.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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